Pregnant mum saves toddler from sinking car

A pregnant mum managed to break the window of her sinking car to save her son.

Last week, Heather Vaden of Missouri swerved to avoid what she thought was a dog. Her car ploughed through a ditch and a fence, and then both she and two-year-old Bently found themselves in a cold pond – inside their SUV.

But Vaden acted quickly, unbuckling her belt and removing the toddler from his car seat as soon as they hit the water.

“I didn't want him to be stuck if something were to go wrong,” she told KSDK.

Despite the freezing water pouring into the front of the car, Vaden managed to keep her head.

Grabbing hold of her son, she kicked at the back window of the car with her heavy boots, freeing them both.

For more parenting adventures (and misadventures) listen to the latest episode of 9Honey's podcast series Honey Mums here:

“It took about five kicks and we finally busted out,” she said.

She then had to carry her son to the shore, swimming close to ten metres while they were both weighed down by sodden clothes – and Vaden by her unborn child.

“I tried to lift [Bently] up further and further,” she told KSDK. “Every time I would do that, it would sink me down further into the water.”

It wasn’t until later on that she realised she’d also done all of this with a broken arm, which she’d injured during her escape attempts.

Someone give this woman a medal.

Mother and son (and child-to-be) finally made it out and went find help at a nearby house.

In the meantime, Vaden’s husband, Josh, had seen their car from the road and gone to try to free them. But his rising panic stopped abruptly when he saw Vaden, miraculously, had taken care of all the rescuing herself.

“I don’t really think of it as I’m a hero at all,” Vaden said. (Aside from the broken arm, she and Bently were, by all accounts, otherwise unscathed.)